A/N: So, you know that episode of Friends where Chandler likes Joey's girlfriend and gets an amazing gift for her and yada yada (Episode 04.06, if not). That inspired this.

"How important is the "hand wash only" tag on this?" Stacie's roommate, Ben, held up a wrinkled shirt to her.

Stacie looked up from her book. "Pretty important." She watched her roommate sniff the shirt, shrug and start putting it on. "Dude, you're gross."

"Your little friend Beca calls me dude a lot. I think she has the hots for me," he smirked.

"Beca's a lesbian, dude," Stacie said, looking back down at her book.

"We'll see about that."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"Alright, I'm outta here. Don't wait up," he winked.

"I never do." Stacie looked up, her eyes narrowing. "That's a nice outfit for one of your usual dates."

"This girl is classy, I met her at a bookstore. I have to impress her. I can't risk ruining my impressive sex-on-the-first-date streak."

Stacie laughed. "I respect that." She stood up, stretching. "What were you doing at a bookstore though?"

"I was looking for something to read." Stacie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, okay, I was picking up something for my mom."

"And knowing the type of girls you usually bring home, she was probably doing something similar. Well, tell your blonde bimbo.. I'm assuming she's blonde, yes?... to be gone before I wake up tomorrow. Or better yet, go to her place. Their walks of shame through the apartment in the morning are too awkward for me to handle that early."

Stacie looked up from her bowl of cereal as Ben stumbled into the apartment. She took in his disheveled appearance, noting that he was in the same clothes as last night, and smirked. "Fun night?"

Ben grunted in response, reaching for a coffee cup and starting the Keurig.

"I can't believe you listened to me and went to her place."

Ben shook his head. "I struck out with her. Had to text one of my booty call girls."

Stacie's eyes widened a bit. "She broke your streak?" she laughed. "Well, good for her."

Ben shot her a glare.

Stacie gave him a cheeky grin and held up her hands. "I'm sorry, is this when I'm supposed to say there are other fish in the sea or something?"

"Naw, I want that fish. Challenge accepted. I'm going to ask her out again."

"Seriously? You never ask a girl out for a second actual date."

Ben shrugged. "I usually get what I want on the first." Stacie threw him a disgusted look.

Stacie curled up at the end of the couch and turned on the TV. She flipped through the channels, trying to find something mindless to help her fall asleep. At 2 AM, the options were limited. She settled on a Friends episode and closed her eyes.

She sat up quickly when a noise startled her.

"Oh!" a voice whispered from behind her. "I'm so sorry."

Stacie whipped her head towards the voice, ready to shoot an annoyed glare over but was stopped short as her breath caught in her throat. Standing across the room was probably one of the most beautiful girls she's ever seen. Her blonde hair was up in a messy pony on top of her head and she was wearing what looked like just an oversized t-shirt. Stacie felt her pulse racing but wasn't sure if it was from the fright or something else.

"Are you okay?" The girl took a tentative step forward but stopped.

Stacie realized she was staring so she averted her eyes. "You scared me," Stacie finally managed to say with a little laugh. "It's okay, it's okay." Stacie waved off the look of guilt that washed over the blonde's face.

"Let's start over. Hi, I'm Aubrey." The blonde smiled wide and Stacie felt her breath hitch again. What is happening?

"Stacie."

"Did I wake you?"

Stacie shook her head. "I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, me neither." Aubrey was still standing across the room, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, her arms wrapped around her body.

Stacie scooted to one end of the couch, leaving the other side empty. "Wanna watch?"

Aubrey smiled gratefully and moved to the couch, quickly curling her legs underneath herself.

"I'm Ben's roommate," Stacie said, slightly cringing at herself for stating the obvious.

Aubrey chuckled. "I hope so, or this would be really awkward," she teased. Stacie felt her stomach do a tiny flip.

Stacie knows it should have been uncomfortable and weird - talking to this stranger in the middle of the night - but, in truth, it wasn't. It felt natural and nice. Any lulls in conversation were filled with comfortable silence or laughter at the TV until they each retreated to separate rooms just as the sun was rising.

Aubrey threw her head back in laughter. "Oh my god, that did not really happen, did it?" It took Stacie a beat to respond because she was too distracted by the sound of Aubrey's laugh.

"No, I swear - I was locked out of the apartment, almost completely naked. It was so horrible."

Aubrey laughed again. "I would have loved to see that." It took her a moment to realize how that sounded. "I.. I mean, that just sounds really funny and.." she trailed off, her face tinting red. Stacie tried her best to laugh it off, her eyes flitting to Aubrey's mouth for a second. When she looked up at Aubrey's eyes again, she noticed the blonde's were on her own lips. They both looked down at their laps for a second, letting the moment pass, before Aubrey launched into her own embarrassing story.

This became a habit of theirs over the next month or so. Aubrey would stay a few nights a week with Ben and she'd find Stacie waiting on the couch after Ben fell asleep. When she was being really honest with herself, Aubrey knew that on the days she didn't really feel like going home with Ben, it was the promise of seeing Stacie that convinced her to go. And it was all confusing for her - Ben isn't a guy she would normally stay with for this long but she couldn't bring herself to break it off. And she told herself that she liked this new friendship with Stacie because she didn't normally ever feel this comfortable with someone.

They'd yet to see each other in the light of day and besides Stacie saying she was Ben's roommate, he was never mentioned, almost as if it was an unspoken rule. It seemed they talked about everything there is to talk about except relationships.

"Do you guys have any wrapping paper?" Stacie asked, walking into her best friends' place.

"For my birthday present?" Fat Amy called over to her from the other room.

Stacie's mind raced trying to figure out when Amy's birthday was until she noticed Chloe shake her head a little and mouth "July" with a soft giggle. "Uh, it's for Aubrey actually. It's her birthday in a couple days."

"The girl that Ben is seeing?" Beca asked, quirking an eyebrow. Stacie hummed and nodded as Chloe opened a closet door and pulled out a bin of wrapping paper. She brought it over to Stacie.

"What'd you get her?" Chloe asked.

"It's an early edition of her favorite book from when she was a kid." Stacie felt a little embarrassed but she wasn't sure why.

Chloe looked over at what Stacie was holding. "Oh, The Velveteen Rabbit! Oh my gosh, when the boys' love makes the rabbit real.." Chloe all but squealed, taking a step towards Stacie.

Stacie backed up half a step. "Okay, but don't touch it. Your fingers have destructive oils!" Chloe rolled her eyes.

"So, this is pretty rare, huh? How did you get it?" Beca asked.

"Oh, it wasn't a big deal," Stacie mumbled, shrugging. "I just went to a couple bookstores, talked to a couple dealers.. called a couple of the author's grandchildren."

"What a sweet gift!" Chloe grinned.

"Yeah, and what a great way to say, 'I secretly love you, roommate's girlfriend!'" Beca smirked. Stacie's face tinted red.

"It doesn't say that, does it?"

"How do you think it's gonna look when you get her something incredibly meaningful and expensive and her boyfriend gives her an orange?" Jessica chimed in.

Stacie huffed. "Well, I'll just have to make sure he gets her something great."

"It has to be better than the book."

"What did you get Aubrey for her birthday?" Stacie cornered Ben as he was trying to leave the apartment.

"Wait, when's her birthday?"

"Oh my god, you are the worst. I was standing right there when she told you," Stacie said, exasperated. "It's tomorrow, Ben! Jesus."

"Do you think I have to get her something? We've only been seeing each other for a few weeks."

"Yes! And it has to be something really nice."

"Shit, really? I'm working all day, I don't have time to try to figure it out." Ben ran a hand through his hair, thinking. He shot Stacie a hopeful look. "Can you help? You know her better than I do."

"What? Why would you think that?" She didn't know what Aubrey told him but Stacie had never mentioned her late night talks with the blonde to Ben.

"I know you guys talk, Stacie. She's always pointing out things in stores that she thinks you'd like." Stacie felt her stomach do a little flip. "Please? Just find something easy. Get her a shirt or something. Will you?"

Stacie sighed. "I'll look."

"Thanks! I owe you one." Ben grinned at her and walked out of the apartment. Stacie groaned and fell back onto the couch.

"I just spent the entire afternoon looking for a present for Aubrey that would be better than the rabbit."

"Any luck?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I found this great place called 'Invisible Things for Aubrey.' Can you give me a hand with all of this stuff?" Stacie motioned dramatically to the empty space next to her.

Chloe chose to ignore the sarcasm. "Well, what are you going to do?"

Stacie groaned. "I don't know."

"There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere." Ben sounded relieved.

Stacie looked around from her seat on the couch, bewildered. "Where did you look? I've been right here."

"The kitchen, your room, outside, I don't know. I'm going to be late picking up Aubrey. Did you get a gift?"

"Wait, you mean now? Her birthday isn't until tomorrow!" Stacie's mind raced.

"I've got a thing out of town all day and night tomorrow. We're going out now." Ben gestured impatiently towards Stacie. "Well?"

"Yeah, okay. I got something. I'll go get it."

Stacie went to her room to get the gift she had carefully wrapped for Aubrey. The brunette tried to tell herself that it didn't matter who gave her the gift - because the point was to make her happy, not to get credit. Stacie just wanted her to be happy and she was pretty sure she'd like the book. Still though, she couldn't help be a little bummed about it. She knew it didn't make sense for it to be coming from her. She didn't stop to examine the fact that she would not have gone through as much trouble to get Beca or Chloe or any of her other friends a present like that. Her friendship with Aubrey was different. It just was.

"Here," Stacie said, handing the present over.

"What's in here?" Ben asked, shaking the gift. Stacie cringed and reached her arm up to stop him.

"It's a book."

"You got her a book? I thought you said to get her something nice."

"I think she'll like this," Stacie said quietly. "Let me know what she thinks, okay?"

Stacie waited on the couch for Aubrey that night but she didn't come. Ben was out of town the night after that. He had texted Stacie that Aubrey loved the gift and he was pretty sure she almost cried. A few more days passed and she still hadn't seen Aubrey. She didn't even have her phone number, not that she would use it if she did. For some reason, it seemed like it would be crossing some imaginary boundary if they talked during the day.

Stacie was working on a crossword puzzle and eating her cereal when she heard movement and looked up, expecting to see Ben. Instead, she saw a tall blonde - a stranger she'd never seen before. The girl scurried past to the door, mumbling 'sorry' as she went. Ben came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Who the fuck was that?"

"Christina? Kristin? Kirsten? Kristine? Something like that." Ben poured some cereal into a bowl.

"What about Aubrey?" It came out as angry as Stacie felt but the tone still took her by surprise.

"Aubrey and I were never exclusive." The casualness in which he said it only served to increase Stacie's anger.

"Well, does she know that?"

"It doesn't matter-" Ben held up a hand as Stacie started to interrupt him. "-we broke it off."

The words Stacie was saying died in her throat. "What?"

"She said we wanted different things." Ben shrugged. "She was probably right." Ben finally looked up at Stacie and his face registered surprise. "Aww, Stace." He grinned. "I didn't know you cared so much. I'm fine - remember, other fish in the sea and all that," he said, motioning toward the door where the blonde stranger just exited.

Stacie didn't have it in her to respond. She wasn't concerned about Ben, she was concerned about herself. Aubrey can't come talk to her in the middle of the night if she's not staying over with Ben. Still, Stacie couldn't bring herself to ask Ben for her number. Knowing him, it had already been deleted anyway.

Stacie tried to shrug it off, chastising herself for even caring. She has a ton of friends to talk to. She's sure Beca would even talk to her in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep. But it just didn't feel the same.

Stacie threw her keys on the counter and dropped her bag on the floor as she walked into her empty apartment. It had been a long day and she was exhausted, but whether that was emotionally or physically, she wasn't sure. She changed into some sweatpants and plopped down on the couch, not even bothering to turn on the TV. She just needed a minute of quiet. She considered opening a bottle of wine and was just about to get up to do it when there was a knock at the door.

If this is a salesperson or a religious nut, I am going to freak out.

Stacie opened the door and her eyes widened. "Aubrey." She took a couple steps backwards without even realizing.

"Hi." Aubrey gave Stacie a tentative smile. Stacie thought the blonde looked a little nervous. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." Stacie moved back even farther as Aubrey came in and shut the door.

"Uh, Ben's not home right now."

"I'm not here for Ben."

"Oh?" Stacie was momentarily distracted by the light shining through the window and hitting Aubrey's hair. Stacie's looked at Aubrey a thousand times over the past month but only by the light of the television set. Aubrey was even more pretty in the daytime and it made Stacie's heart hurt, the beauty of her.

Aubrey took a step forward. "I wanted to thank you for the gift."

"What?"

"The Velveteen Rabbit? I kinda have the feeling you had something to do with that."

"What do you mean?" Stacie looked at the ground.

"Well, when Ben gave it to me he said it was because we met in a bookstore and he knows I like rabbits…"

Stacie raised her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. "Oh my god, Ben." Aubrey chuckled.

"I don't even really like actual rabbits," Aubrey stage whispered, making Stacie laugh. Her laughter died down and Stacie looked up, finding Aubrey's eyes on her. Her stomach flipped. "I just wanted to let you know how amazing that gift was," Aubrey said quietly.

Stacie cleared her throat and looked down at her hands for a few moments. She wasn't used to being nervous. "I've missed you," she blurted out, bringing a hand to her face to see if it felt as hot as she's sure it looked.

She looked up just as Aubrey began coming towards her. Stacie was sure in that moment that Aubrey was going to kiss her. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. It probably sounds silly looking back on it, but Stacie honestly hadn't realized until that point that her feelings for the blonde might be anything other than platonic. It became clear in a split second and she wondered why she hadn't seen it before - not even when Beca told her.

Aubrey walked right up to Stacie, standing close, but the brunette had been wrong, Aubrey didn't kiss her. Her eyes searched Stacie's, wondering, until finally Stacie leaned forward and their lips touched. Stacie felt a jolt of electricity run through her. Aubrey placed her hands on Stacie's hips, gripping her shirt, as she tilted her head.

Stacie couldn't help the whimper that escaped when she felt Aubrey's tongue slide across her bottom lip. She opened her mouth to let Aubrey deepen the kiss. Stacie didn't realize they were moving at all until her back hit the wall. Apparently Aubrey hadn't realized either because the jolt caused her to pull out of the kiss. Stacie was momentarily worried that Aubrey regretted the kiss or simply got carried away but the blonde kept her body close to Stacie's.

Aubrey rested her forehead on Stacie's - trying to catch her breath. "I've missed you too."